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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Prednisolone and Cataract

Prednisolone is a form of steroid used widely to treat inflammatory and auto immune conditions such as lupus, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema and many more.

A lengthy course of prednisolone can result to bloody or black stools, rounding of face, muscle cramps, retards healing of wounds, thinning of skin, etc etc...and CATARACT.

At this tender young age (ahem) I already was diagnosed with cataract in both eyes, just last year. My opthalmalogist queried if I had any eye injury before as it is rare for young people like me to contract cataract.

After gathering my health facts, he realised that it is possible that I get cataract caused by lengthy prednisolone consumption and dosage patterns since childhood. I went through all relevant eye tests and the results showed that my left eye had severe cataract.

I was scheduled for the eye surgery to remove the natural lens and replaced with an artificial one. It took me about one year to adjust to this alien.

Cataract is common amongst older folks, usually from age 50s and above. Having cataract is similar to seeing things through an unwashed glass..you can sometimes see white blur patches here and there making the whole picture unclear. Blinking of the eyes will not make it any better or clearer.

What was my reaction then? I recalled that I felt sad and fearful as I did not know what to expect from the surgery. After the first consultation at the ophtalmalogist, my husband and I went searching for books and websites on cataract.

A day surgery was scheduled at Camdem and I faithfully brought myself there earlier to go thru the administrative stuff first and change into the hospital outfit. The surgery took 15 minutes to 20 minutes and the next thing I knew was that I was moved out of the surgery room to a ward to rest.

I am now experiencing blurring of my right eye...think it is time to see my ophtalmalogist again..sigh.

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